Funk shoots record 20-under to win US Senior Open title

Funk rolls to US Senior Open title

CARMEL, Ind. — Fred Funk set a tournament record by finishing 20-under par and won the U.S. Senior Open by six strokes on Sunday.

Funk shot a 7-under 65 on the final day at Crooked Stick and beat Hale Irwin’s previous record set in 2000 by three strokes.

Joey Sindelar finished second at 14 under, his sixth top-10 finish of the season.

Funk shot 13 under the first three days to take the lead. He birdied holes 2, 5 and 9 on Sunday for a 33 on the front nine and was on his way to routing the field.

Funk lost a playoff last week in the Senior British Open. He has fought through knee and shoulder injuries to finish in the top seven in six of his past seven tournaments.

Russ Cochran, who entered the weekend at even par, finished at 12 under and in third place.

Loren Roberts tied the course record with a 64 on Sunday to finish tied for fourth at 11 under. He was ahead of the record until he bogeyed on 17. He made par on 18 to finish 8 under.

Greg Norman, who started the day one stroke behind Funk, finished 11 under and tied for fourth. His tee shot went into the water on No. 6 and he double bogeyed. On the next hole, he shot out of a bunker and landed on the green, but he two-putted and bogeyed.

The course record was altered three times during the week. Norman, Sindelar, Dan Forsman and amateur Tim Jackson all tied for the course record Thursday with a 6-under 66.

That record was bettered on Saturday, when Cochran shot an 8-under 64. Roberts then tied Cochran’s mark.

Jackson, who led after the first two days, shot a 4-over 76 on Sunday to finish tied for 11th place. His 72-hole score of 282 was the lowest by an amateur in U.S. Senior Open history, shattering the record of 288 set by Greg Reynolds and George Zahringer in 2005. He also shot the lowest round for an amateur in a U.S. Senior Open, a 66 on Thursday.

Jackson’s score of 133 over the first two days matched the tourney’s best 36-hole mark.

Tom Watson, the runner-up at the British Open, shot even on Sunday to finish at 2 over, tied for 43rd.

Last year’s winner, Eduardo Romero, shot even on Sunday to finish at 3 under and tied for 19th.